Pedro Castillo New President of Peru: Unfolding Peru's Fight Against Western Global Neo-Fascism & The Fourth Industrial Revolution.
After decades of corruption the mineral-rich nation put faith in rural teacher Pedro Castillo over right-winger Keiko Fujimori, who alleged fraud for months. But the fight is just beginning.
On the bicentennial anniversary of Peru’s independence on July 28, Pedro Castillo was officially inaugurated. Over a month and a half after Peru held its second and final round of presidential elections, the daughter of Alberto Fujimori who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights abuses, Keiko Fujimori, of the party “Fuerza Popular,” lost to “Peru Libre’s” Pedro Castillo, the teacher, strike leader, and “rondero” from the rural region of Cajamarca. Fujimori was determined to win the coveted role of President of the Andean nation and with it a strong jurisdiction over its copious amounts of enriching resources, particularly lithium. Despite weeks of fraud allegations by Fujimori, Castillo finally clinched a victory on July 19th, as verified by the ONPE (Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales) or National office of Electoral Processes and the JNE or National Jury of Elections.
This was Fujimori’s third time run and loss, as she ran and lost presidential run-offs in 2011 and 2016. Keiko’s ideology falls on the right but her economics is also par on par with the global capitalist NATO-backed agenda, boasting of “free-market” capitalism with more privatization, especially of Peru’s mining economy. Her platform claimed an intent to “boost” Peru’s economy by re-opening, expanding infrastructure and investing in health and education but never specified exactly how she planned to execute it. Keiko was backed by big business and foreign investors in Peru who together with her own campaign, spent millions to win the election. Fujimori is still currently under investigation for corruption and money laundering during her previous election campaigns and there have been recent calls by a prosecutor for her arrest.
Pedro Castillo, often seen wearing a poncho and a yellow, straw hat, represents one of Peru’s most forgotten and economically radicalized classes, the rural, indigenous working class residing in smaller provinces outside the capital city of Lima. Castillo campaigned on a platform shouting the slogan “No mas pobres en un pais rico!” or “No more poor people in a rich country!”. His intent is to keep more of the money created in Peru inside the country, as about 70% of the wealth created is exported to foreign nations and their investors. Castillo proposes the nationalization of certain economic sectors, specifically in mining, gas, oil and hydroelectric technologies. It’s worth noting that Peru’s city of Puno, bordering Bolivia, sits on recently discovered 2.5 million tons of lithium. Castillo also plans to pay himself the same wage he earns as a teacher, wishes to create a new Constitution free of the “Fujimorismo” that he said does not represent the people and wants to reduce the amount of money lawmakers make, emphasizing a reduction in salary for wealthy business owners and an increase in working class wages.
The Past Comes into the Present & Dictates the Future
Peru’s current fight is truly top-down as it stands against privatization and the exploitation of its labor via the incoming Fourth industrial Revolution, the merging of natural and digital worlds vita big tech, backed by billionaires and corporations. Looking at this election from the superficial lense of American exceptionalism similarities of the obvious left-right fight and allegations of fraud come to play. But it must be understood that unlike the U.S, Peru is a country that usually has a fair and transparent election process. Peru’s politics include a deep historical context of war between left-wing groups of indigenous, rural populations and neo-fascists exploiting their labor and resources. Constant mainstream media propaganda tied Pedro Castillo to one of the most feared and hated groups, Sendero Luminoso, or “the Shining Path,” further heightening the fear of the specter of communism. Simultaneously Keiko’s corrupt past, her family’s crimes and especially the memory of her father’s crimes against humanity, made this election a difficult one for many Peruvians.
The Shining Path, a Maoist guerrilla group with Marxist influences began with then professor Abimael Guzman in the 60s when he taught philosophy at San Cristóbal of Huamanga University. He recruited young academics from rural regions, teaching them about left-wing politics including communism. A vital mention to understanding the organizational dynamic of this group is knowing the power structure was heavily centralized, focusing on Guzman almost to the point of reverence rather than a decentralized, cell-based structure. Rarely mentioned is that the rural, indigenous populations in Peru were already suffering drastically with exploitation, wealth inequality, land confiscation, racism and discrimination. Years of unanswered pleas radicalized the population to choose between the government and other rising factions. By the 1980s Guzman launched his campaign to overthrow the Peruvian government and establish a dictatorship of the peasantry. The group set up military schools to train recruits on tactics and weaponry and by this time the rural peasantry had enough. Because they focused on rural regions, the jungle and the mountains, they were in direct opposition to more urban and conservative regions in Peru, and thus began a civil war that last until the early 2000s.
The group targeted mayors, governors, bureaucrats, police, and local political leaders. By 1983 Sendero Luminoso focused on land-owning peasants and state agency heads, using violence and threats of abduction for subjugation. They then launched attacks against local organizers, left-wing activists, and liberal intellectuals, who they saw as complicit in maintaining the status quo. This pushed away many Peruvians who did not want to embrace the “violent” route. Consequently when many peasants in rural provinces lost their lands and consequently their economic stability, they turned on the group and were then subject to more attacks. They ended up losing the most because the military and intelligence services did not protect them and often times actually ended up also attacking them. Both the Alan Garcia administration and the subsequent Alberto Fujimori administration used bribery and intimidation tactics to go after local citizens for more information on The Shining Path. The Garcia government and the Belaúnde government before it both tortured and randomly assassinated citizens- most of them peasants-for their alleged backing of the group even if the accusations showed no validity. Worth noting that the “ronderos” were key in defending the rural peasantry against attacks from both The Shining Path and the government and Pedro Castillo is known as a “rondero”.
On April 5, 1992, Alberto Fujimori staged a coup in the country, dissolving congress and dismantling the judicial system. The administration took control of all media stations and free institutions, proclaiming a return to normalcy within a year that would not occur. On July 18, 1992, as an offensive to Fujimori, the Shining Path set off two car bombs in the wealthy district of Miraflores in Lima, killing 18 people and wounding 140 more. Fujimori’s administration had failed to relieve Peru’s economic depression, as a reported 4.5 million people were living in dire poverty lacking electricity, water and basic needs. Simultaneously Alberto Fujimori’s right-arm man, Vladimiro Montesinos forged a plan with the CIA to oust the Shining Path by force, the administration used the funds to supposedly fight the “reign of terror” but instead ended up using the money for personal enrichment and sanctioning thousands of state murders, as well as famously pushing the forced sterilization of thousands of indigenous women, all for which Fujimori is currently serving a 25 year sentence. According to The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, an estimated 70,000 were killed as a result of the civil war between the government and the Shining Path.
Nearly two decades since that attack Peruvians in Lima are fearful of the specter of communism and equate it directly to terrorism. Even with knowledge of Keiko’s corrupt past and her family’s Manny voiced they would rather have corruption they know than “el terrorismo” or as they say, “el Communism nuncio mas,” or “communism never again.” Simultaneously the rural, indigenous populations outside of Lima have been suffering under the rampant privatization the nation has endured for decades. Land-owning peasants in the mountainous regions and valleys outside the capital are losing their lands to corporatists who are forcing them to sell or simply taking it. The workers in the mining industry have next to no rights and do not get paid enough for the work they do for the business class and foreigners. Again, most of the money made from Peru’s rich resources does not go to the Peruvian people. There is a strong anti-imperialist sentiment in the rural regions with the understanding that Peru’s minerals and mining industries are exploited by the West. This is why Pedro Castillo was and remains popular among the vast majority of rural citizens and why Keiko’s support came largely from expats, the upper class, and those who live in the capital city of Lima.
The Election Is Unique to Peru, Comparing it to U.S Is Myopic
The Peruvian election began with Keiko Fujimori having an advantage with money, political influence, and the bought corporate media but then Castillo began taking the lead in spite of the media’s attempts to tie him to the Shining Path. On June 6th Pedro Castillo voted early on and had breakfast with his family urging the public they should respect the results of their democratic election. Trepidation and alert badgered Peru as the military and police were put on high alert for possible altercations between supporters of both parties. Some businesses, specifically boarded up their windows and the media fueled the fears of potential fighting in the streets by focusing on the possibility of violence.
By our standards Peruvian elections would be “right-wing,” being compulsory and requiring a photo ID with no option to vote by mail, and with only one day, 7AM-7PM to vote. Even expats go to an embassy or consular location to vote. They also do not get to vote by mail. As far as fines, if you do not vote it can cost you anywhere between 22 and 88 soles or more depending on how much money you make. There is no such thing as ballot harvesting either. Because of the reportedly large numbers of COVID infections citizens were encouraged to vote between certain hours depending on the last numbers of their DNI (identification document) but it was not a strict requirement. Lines were not very long and in fact, unlike some 7 hour lines in the United States, it took Peruvians between three and five minutes to vote. The ballots are hand-counted paper ballots. For this election Peru removed all electronic voting machines, as they used to have some in Lima and larger provinces.
The issues Peru needs to work on as far as their elections lie in accessibility for the disabled, as they’re very strict on people attending the exact poll locations and tables they’re assigned to for security purposes. This is largely an infrastructure issue but it’s minimal as they simply have dealt with it by moving tables down floors. Another point is that in Peru the ballots are destroyed right after the election in order to avoid any tampering. From an election integrity standpoint this is a double-edge sword, for while it reduces the likelihood of false or hidden ballots, during an audit there are only the tallies for each province to look at and not the actual ballots. When comparing U.S elections to Peru it’s clear having paper ballots, more direct democracy (no electoral college), no ballot harvesting, ID verification, and no vote by mail do make Peru’s elections easier to track, more transparent and far more secure than American elections. Reminder that in America we have black box voting on proprietary software via electronic voting machines that can and often are connected the the internet. Meaning we cannot look into the machines owned by private subsidiary companies of other shell companies, nor check the logs to see if anyone accessed the machines who should not have. Ballot harvesting with no ability to track ballots and no monitoring of mail ins with a clear chain of custody allows for the possibility of rampant fraud or at the very least promotes deep and reasonable distrust in the system.
Still, the clear power dynamic favoring Keiko was present. In a clear conflict of interest one of the ONPE or National Office of Electoral Processes leaders in charge of the counting of the race, Piero Corvetto, had met with Keiko and was in fact a former member of her party Fuerza Popular. Reports of ballots pre-filled or thrown out in more rural provinces, as well as reports of bribes for the elderly, who are not required to vote, to vote for Fujimori, plagued the election from the start. Foreign observers mentioned that while the process itself was clean, the counting was unusually chaotic and the counting is done privately so there is less transparency in that aspect. Pedro Castillo who won the first round of voting in April had remained in the lead most times or slightly under as the results came in, surprising the mainstream media & business class who had not expected him to make it that far and had continuously been adversarial to his candidacy. As expected Castillo dominated most of Peru outside of Lima. The saying is “Peru no es Lima” or “Peru is not Lima,” but the regions are less populated and because Peru has direct democracy, one person, one vote, it was still a very close race.
By June 7th, it was known it would be statistically impossible for Keiko Fujimori to catch up to Castillo and hordes of Peruvians waited outside of the campaign offices of Peru Libre, for Castillo to declare victory. As soon as Pedro Castillo built a substantial lead Keiko Fujimori began alleging fraud focusing on three key points: Las mesas or polling tables and bias in those groups, the signatures not matching, and marking regions not having any votes for her as suspect. Immediately Castillo supporters took to the streets of the center of Lima to preemptively stand against any election abnormalities pushed by Fuerza Popular. Castillo supporters interviewed proclaimed that they will not accept these results because of the fraud. They kept saying “no al fraude!” Unlike in America, the left in Peru got out in the streets until the election was fairly called and would have likely stayed until they removed Keiko. On June 7th in the late evening hours, Pedro Castillo finally addressed thousands of supporters who had come from all regions of Peru, saying, “only the people will save the people!”
By June 9th Keiko had ramped up her accusations claiming, “fraud en mesa,” accusations geared on poll workers. Since there were less “Fuerza popular” people working a few tables as poll workers, and since some shared a last name, she claimed they manipulated ballots. Meanwhile, several of the table workers came out to defend themselves. Fujimori’s other claims that the signatures did not match were quickly debunked also when several of the signatures in question were matched by the own workers who filmed themselves verifying their signatures. Further Keiko also claimed that fraud had to have taken place in specific rural regions where she got one or no votes, but this also failed to hold up when in parts of Miami Keiko won without a single vote going to Castillo. Here is an example of an “acta” or a tally.
It’s worth mentioning that unlike in the United States, it is statistically likely lower populated, rural, indigenous regions have little to no votes for Keiko because as mentioned above, it is these specific regions that have suffered the most because of the neoliberalism and privatization politicians like Fujimori and her father before her, pushed. To say Fujimori and her whole family is despised by the vast majority of Peruvians outside of Lima is an understatement. The knee-jerk attempt by Western leftists to compare Fujimori to Trump because of her claims of fraud is beyond superficial and ends at the broad “right-wing” descriptor of her policies. If anything, she’s more comparable to Hillary Clinton and her family, not just politically but also because of the hatred and broad claims of fraud while corruption plagues her dynasty.
On June 10th with 100% of the results processed Pedro Castillo had effectively won the race, but Keiko had specifically pushed the nullification of 802 “actas” or tallies, equaling to about 200,500 possible votes and costing her over 229,150 dollars. Note that Fujimori had failed to meet the deadlines for several submissions of fraud so the numbers were much less than she claimed. Quickly the organizations in charge of counting the votes for Peru. the Special Electoral Juries (JEE), the Office of Decentralized Electoral Processes (ODPE), the ONPE and the JNE, went in to assess the situation. The process is supposed to occur as follows: The ODPE sends in physical tallies observed in addition to the tallies that correspond to the JEE. The JEE then issues a statement in this regard comparing the tallies observed by the ODPE and the corresponding tallies. The results can be appealed to the JNE within 3 Days of its publication in the JEE. The JNE will go over this in a public form, with press and cameras and will announce the final and definitive results within three days. Once the tallies in question are resolved they will be sent back to the ONPE to be added to official totals. For the full explanation of this and the entire process checkout the link below on YouTube at or Rokfin at around16:00 minutes in.
While this was happening Keiko Fujimori had another problem. The prosecutor José Domingo Pérez asked the Judiciary to revoke the restricted appearance and order preventive detention against Keiko Fujimori for failing to comply with probation imposed by the Criminal Court of appeals by having met with Miguel Torres, a witness in the tax investigation for contributions to her 2011 and 2016 campaigns. Fujimori had been indicted in March specifically for charges on organized crime and obstruction of justice. If she were to win she would be free of the charges imposed on her and based on her past statements, Fujimori would also pardon her father.
The process for elections in Peru despite the instability with political corruption and the recent changes in presidency amid mass protests, has always been fluid until this most recent election. For one, Pedro Castillo’s team claimed that the JNE was hearing unverified claims that normally would not meet the smell test but because of Keiko Fujimori’s influence, her lawyers were using a gap in the law to push this through, getting an extension through June 11. There were claims that some in the JNE were bought off, for it was supreme prosecutor Luis Arce Cordova, a member of the JNE favorable to Keiko, who requested the measure.
Evo Morales and others quickly came to the defense of Pedro Castillo, denouncing the review of the vote tallies and claiming that, “behind the review of the voting tallies in Peru, there’s a hidden plan to coup to steal victory from the Peruvian people who elected their government at the polls with dignity and sovereignty. This is an attack on democracy that threatens regional stability.” On June 14th Keiko further demanded a review of ALL tallies, still having no tangible evidence which was recognized by the those even in her corner. By this point the ONPE had invalidated some votes because the difference between Castillo’s lead and Fujimori went from 70,000 to 48,220. Until the JNE officially calls the election the winner is not official. This of course did not stop congratulations from coming and Castillo declared himself the winner when 100% of all verified votes were counted and assessed stating, “A new time has begun. Millions of Peruvians have stood up in defense of their dignity and justice. Thanks to the peoples of all Peru who, from their diversity and historic strength, have given me their trust. My government will be owed to all citizens.” Thousands of supporters from the rural provinces came into the city, to demand Castillo be claimed the winner and to await his announcement. The process for reviewing the claims was to be between 5 and 15 days but over a month after the election, Peru’s presidency was yet to be determined.
The OAS & Keiko’s Plan Toward A Constitutional Crisis
While many celebrated some urged caution. As per the regime change and Western imperialist playbook, the OAS was involved itself from the start. The ONPE and a third party observer, “Transparencia Peru,” stated that they did not find any evidence of fraud in the June 6 elections to be valid.
Further once again the contradictions Keiko was alleging came back to haunt her. She had claimed it was impossible for her to receive no votes in certain rural provinces but by the same token in areas like Tampa and Miami, Florida, she got an unusual amount of votes because of the simple fact that expat Peruvians just like Venezuelans and Cubans having mostly ran from the result of American imperialism masked as failed communism or socialism, tend to be more anti-left and pro-West than those living in Peru and thus more likely to vote for her. By this time, many Peruvians even those who were pro Keiko had accepted that Castillo had won. Many commentators, even those who were not fond of Castillo, alleged that in order for anyone to allege fraud there’s a high burden of proof to fulfill, not just assumptions based on suspicions like the ones that Keiko was acting on. She would have to prove fraud, blackmail, bribing, intimidation and violence on all the poll workers in the mesas, and none of Keiko’s cases showed that.
Also during this time a report that the OAS had already been interfering in Peru or had plans to came from Brazilian journalist Hildegard Angel. Angel alleged that, “The OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, had already written a statement acknowledging Keiko's triumph, so that the results indicate her as the winner. A high-ranking military leader, who could be the FFAA Joint Command, would have plotted with Almagro so that after issuing the OAS communiqué, the country would be immediately militarized, with vote control, avoiding any complaints or recounts and, therefore, quell protest in the streets.” For clarity the OEA is the OAS but in Latin America. Luis Almagro happens to be the OAS Secretary General working in the Americas. He unsurprisingly frequently tweets pro-imperialist propaganda, most recently about Haiti and Cuba’s fight for “freedom and democracy”. Protests in Brazil and D.C erupted in an attempt to stop a coup from happening.
The government of Canada recognized that “the electoral process held on June 6 was free, fair and open,” confirming support for the ONPE and the JNE. Even third party observer, “Transparencia Perú,” a nonpartisan organization, agreed with the evaluation of the OAS on their Observation Mission on the performance of the JEE and JNE, upholding that they did their due process. Meanwhile, the OAS admitted they had continued to monitor the electoral process in Peru and stated that the electoral process had been transparent and followed the guidelines. They also touched on “the unusual resignation of Judge Luis Arce Córdova from the Plenary of the National Elections Jury (JNE) at such a delicate moment in the electoral process.”
On June 15, the association Democratic Lawyers of Peru presented a motion before the JNE against Luis Arce Córdova based on alleged "conflict of interest, lack of transparency and bias" in favor of Keiko’s Fuerza Popular. The demands was that he abstain from hearing any electoral administrative procedure in which the Peru Libre was involved. On June 23rd, Arce Cordova requested a permanent declination as representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office before the plenary of the JNE, to avoid his "minority votes being used to validate false constitutional deliberations that are in reality decisions with clear political bias." He was responding to the declination of the JNE to nullify the appealed actas, saying they were not the proper entity to verify the alleged false signatures and stated that they could not request lists of voters because these were private documents. The JNE in turn took action to replace him to continue the process. Apart from his involvement with Keiko’s party, Arce was linked to Los Cuellos Blancos del Puerto, a criminal organization led by former Supreme Court Justice César Hinostroza, who reportedly helped Fujimori with her judicial processes. The document states that there was sufficient evidence to suggest Arce Cordova would not be impartial. The entire electoral debacle is outlined here in complete detail. For even more coverage of the insanity that took place on the ground check out these podcast episodes of Facts on the Ground and The Dive .
Amid the electoral crisis Keiko Fujimori attempted to delay the process as much as possible, in order to create a “constitutional crisis”. If a president were not named by July 28, then the country would be vulnerable to such a crisis and new elections could be called. Because this was an unlikely scenario her other tactic was to continue delay the process enough to place doubt and hinder a peaceful transition into the Castillo government.
Castillo’s Triumph & His Transformative Plans for The Working Class
As Keiko’s challenges were thrown out Peru Libre’s Pedro Castillo began making moves that showed a clear shift in Peru’s governing. By July 15 Castillo met with Liang Yu, an Ambassador from the People's Republic of China, '‘to prioritize the ties of brotherhood and cooperation between both countries.” Normalizing relationships with China quite quickly and openly before having U.S affiliates will likely put Peru on NATO’s naughty list, particularly after comments by Castillo that he would prefer the Russian and China vaccines. China is also the main buyer of Peruvian copper among other natural minerals of the country.
On July 19, the JNE announced that the ONPE and JEE had finished their observations and that the electoral records, voting challenges and nullities and been resolved. Hours later Pedro Castillo was officially declared the President. The JNE finally declared that in compliance with the Constitution and the law, José Pedro Castillo Terrones would be the President of the Republic and Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra, the VP, both from the Peru Libre national political party. Castillo addressed the public saying, “Thank you to the Peruvian people for this historic triumph! The time has come to call on all sectors of society to come together, in this Bicentennial, an inclusive Peru, a just Peru, a Free Peru. Without discrimination and for the rights of all. We call on the Afro, coastal, Andean and Amazonian peoples, the working class and their unions, the native and peasant communities and all of society to make this homeland beautiful. Today, sisters and brothers, a new era in our history begins.” Evo Morales congratulated Castillo, “Finally, the National Elections Jury proclaimed our brother Pedro Castillo as president of Peru. It is a triumph for the dignity and unity of the working people over neoliberalism. Pedro will teach how to govern for the most marginalized and sacrificed of people.” Keiko Fujimori for her part accepted the defeat as she was bound by law but refused to say the election was entirely fair and that Castillo was the real winner, saying “the truth will come out anyway” and that she would oppose Pedro Castillo and “Vladmir Cerrón’s attempt to turn Peru into Cuba or Venezuela,”
Peru avoided the constitutional crisis that Fujimori wanted on July 28, as they officially inaugurated Pedro Castillo as the President of Peru on the 200th anniversary of Peru’s independence. He arrived at the Torre Tagle Palace on Wednesday, as many other foreign dignitaries were also in attendance including Evo Morales and the Chavista Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Jorge Arreaza, among other U.S, Canadian, and Spanish leaders.
In his inaugural speech, Castillo vowed to create a universal healthcare program and secure protections to pensions. This would include a national system of care for dependents, children, the disabled, including physical and psychological care for victims of sexual assault. Castillo will also tackle malnutrition by incorporating organizations that help provide food into public programs. He addressed the farming communities by vowing to bring in new equipment and placing focus on irrigation and livestock. On the scientific front Castillo will create a ministry of science, technology, and innovation, promoting research and careers for the youth. The oil industry will be crucial with Castillo ensuring PetroPeru will regulate oil prices to prevent consumer exploitation in favor of monopolies, basing policy on public sector participation in markets. Taking from his own customs, Castillo will implement the “rondas” as a security mechanism to protect from crime. Controversial to western liberals, the youth refusing to study or work will be required to serve in the military. The aim is to focus the military on infrastructure during times of peace. Not surprisingly Castillo seeks to revitalize the culture of indigenous language and education, including cultural and publishing industries. The focus under the Ministry of Environment will be to reduce deforestation, push for low-carbon economics, guarantee environment-friendly standards, protect the Amazon, respect multilateral environmental agreements, and sanction those committing environmental crimes. His plans vow to make Peru carbon neutral by 2050. While Castillo pushes for a new constitution he also promotes reforms to strengthen sanctions against officials and private agents involved in acts of corruption. The government will also control state advertising in media to prevent public spending from being used for political motives. One of the main symbolic changes Castillo made is to not govern from the “Palacio de Goberino,” or as he refers to it “Pizarro’s house,” because the building is a symbol of colonialism of the past. He will instead convert the building into a museum that tell’s the country’s entire history before colonialism. Castillo said, “ I believe that we have to break with the colonial symbols to end with the chains of domination that have remained in place for so many years.” He also announced the Ministry of Culture will change its name to Ministry of Cultures to recognize Indigenous peoples in addition to other cultures. Castillo also made sure to quell the rumors that he will become Latin America’s next “dictator’’ by affirming that once his term is done in 2026, he will go back to being a teacher.
The Dangers Ahead via The 4th Industrial Revolution
During Alberto Fujimori’s reign he ruled similar to Augusto Pinochet, using the excuse of curtailing the Shining Path to justify his funding of right-wing death squads. He changed mining laws giving mining companies in Peru free rein, including tax exemption. They did not have to pay any royalties even until after they recuperated their initial investments and were allowed to install and operate anywhere. If there were revolts by locals in rural areas the Peruvian military would come in and squash it. Often times they would take ring leaders, put bags over their heads and march them off cliffs.
By contrast Pedro Castillo wants these mining companies to pay far more in taxes especially since American, Chinese, Canadian and Australians run these companies and the local people never see any of this money, which is why Castillo is a threat to the West and a welcomed blessing to the workers of Peruvian mining. Remember that the main export from Peru are minerals. As businesses in Peru were fearful of tanking stocks, Castillo named Guido Bellido, a Marxist from Cuzco as prime minister. Fears subsided some when Castillo then strategically named moderate left-wing economist Francke, a top adviser to his campaign, as finance minister. While Castillo and Peru Libre have the majority, the second majority are Fuerza Popular and other more conservative parties which will oppose many of Castillo’s plans.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, defined in this context is about remaking the economy to being much more tech based, in automation, machine, merging this with the privatization of natural resources, especially rare earth minerals. More lithium, ion batteries, artificial intelligence and massive data centers, including surveillance software. Recently Tanzania in Africa has been under fire for the president nationalizing and kicking out massive mining companies, ones essential to The Fourth industrial Revolution. Many of the coups, election manipulations, and regime changes are driven by proxy wars between Western mining companies and Chinese mining companies to establish control over these precious mineral resources mostly in the Andes and Africa. When Rafael Correa was in power in Ecuador he favored Chinese mining companies over Western mining companies, as did Evo Morales. Right before the coup, Morales had the Nationalize Lithium project between Bolivia and the Chinese but when Añez took over they went to Elon Musk for this instead. The race is clearly no longer about oil but minerals and Peru has a heap of them. Let’s remember, “Operation Condor, ” a U.S backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving CIA operations and assassination of opponents in South America, where “both US and South American governments used political and warfare tactics to ensure government stability and the destruction of communism in the region.”
It’s clear Castillo’s win is only the beginning. There’s no guarantee that a coup will not occur later on, especially with his determination to nationalize mineral rich resources in Peru. Luckily Peru seems to have formed an alliance with Bolivia, as the two countries are rich in minerals and have left-wing governments with similar demographics and similar beliefs aligned in indigenous conservatism and anti-imperialism. With Chile and Brazil also having elections, Venezuela still heavily Chavista but suffering under U.S sanctions, and Colombia in disarray from a right-wing government but with people pushing a general strike, it remains to be seen if Latin America can form an anti-imperialist coalition as the continent is rich in minerals and resources but is endlessly exploited by the West. The danger of The Fourth Industrial Revolution, an exploitative plan under the guise of western, “woke,” corporate Green New Deals, set up by billionaires, will pose a huge threat to these countries. One thing is certain, the U.S will never have close to a Pedro Castillo in their current disastrous election system where liberals mask themselves as “Democratic Socialists” but push privatization via big tech and expansion of corporations via dark money NGOS like the Sunrise Movement. The most propagandized nation in the world is still playing party politics with the re-branded Democratic Party under the '“Squad,” while demanding more authoritarian crackdowns in the name of “do your part” for COVID-19, in an era where direct action is clearly the only way forward, at least toward stopping the increasing fascism engulfing the nation. The U.S left, a tiny minority if ever existent, would benefit from learning from South American movements, how they begin locally and focus solely on economics due to need, rather than symbolic gestures weaponized by a two-party illusion. Peru’s triumph via the election of Pedro Castillo should be celebrated, studied, and watched with caution as a a victory against privatization and Neo-global fascism.